SCHEDEL, D. Hartmann.
[One of the earliest world maps available to the collector, decorated with bizarre creatures]Secunda etas mundi.Nuremberg, Anton Koberger, 1493, Latin text edition. Coloured woodcut, printed area 370 x 520mm. Small stitch holes at centre fold, as usual, with old reinforcing.A fine example of the famous incunable world map from the 'Nuremberg Chronicle', published a matter of months after Columbus' return to Spain after his first voyage to the New World, so including nothing of his discoveries. Instead, appropriately for a history of the world, it takes a retrospective view, with the cartography that of Ptolemy, with a land-locked Indian Ocean with the island of Taprobana, but given a biblical theme by depicting the three sons of Noah in the borders. Down the left are seven vignettes of mythological creatures, with a further 14 on the reverse, taken from the works of Herodotus, Solinus and Pliny. These include figures with six arms, four eyes or a bird-neck and a centaur. The text describes which parts of the world they inhabit.SHIRLEY: 19.
[Ref: 18707]
£16,000.00
($20,336 • €18,144 rates)

MUNSTER, Sebastian.
[16th century Ptolemaic world map]Typus Orbis A Ptol. Descriptus.Basle: Henry Petri, c.1542, Latin edition. Coloured woodcut, printed area 260 x 340mm.An early edition of Munster's Ptolemaic map showing the world as known to the Romans. The Indian Ocean is landlocked, with Africa extending into the Terra Incognita, with the mythical island of Taprobana, The ornate border contains clouds and wind heads. On verso is a title surrounded by a very decorative cartouche.SHIRLEY: World 76.
[Ref: 19332]
£1,250.00
($1,589 • €1,418 rates)

LUFFT, Hans.
[A Bohemian edition of Lufft's 'Daniel's Dream' world map with fantastical creatures][World map illustrating Daniel's Dream.]Prague: Jiri Melantrich, c.1549, Czech text edition. Woodcut 115 x 160mm, with extra woodcut borders and letterpress text underneath. Repaired tear entering text at bottom.A most unusual world map, designed to illustrate a commentary on Daniel's apocalyptic dream from the Old Testament, which the authors, Justus Jonas and Philipp Melanchthon (with help from their friend Martin Luther), saw as an allegory for the victory of the Christian world over Ottoman Empire, and were using as propaganda for a holy war. The map depicts the three continents of the old world, their names the only writing on the map. Of more importance are the four fabulous beasts representing empires, as described in Chapter Seven of the Book of Daniel: a lion with eagle’s wings (Babylon or Assyria); a bear (Persia); a leopard with four wings and four heads (the Macedon of Alexander); and a goat with iron teeth and ten horns, including one small horn on which is a human head (Western Roman Empire with the small horn representing the Ottomans). Also in Asia is an army, mounted on horses, wearing turbans and carrying lances, representing the threat of the Turkish army. Originally published in Wittenburg by Lufft in 1530, this example comes from a second version, believed to have been cut by either Melchior Schwarzenberg or Moritz Schreiber (the monogram 'MS' is on other blocks), also in use from 1530. Ernst Gallner (www.daniels-dream-map.com) lists four editions of a Czech bible with this state of the block by the same publisher: 1549, 1558, 1561 & 1566.See SHIRLEY 65a, this version not illustrated; www.daniels-dream-map.com, version 2, state 1.
[Ref: 13741]
£1,750.00
($2,224 • €1,985 rates)

SCANDIANESE, Tito Giovanni.
[An Italian poem about hunting, illustrated with Ludovico Dolce's world map]I Quattro Libri della Caccia. [Bound with] La Sfera di Proclo.Venice: Gabriel Giolito et Fratelli, 1556, First Edition. 4to, contemporary limp vellum; pp. 164 + 20, 16 woodcut vignettes with other woodcut decorations. [&] pp. 23, title with woodcut illustration, other woodcut decorations, publisher's emblem at end. Wormholes in titlepage, a few pages and emblem, ink stamp on spine and covers.An Italian illustrated hunting poem with a short treatise on falconry at the end, written under this pseudonym by Tito Gazarini (1518-82). On page 23 is a printing of Ludovico Dolce's unusual world map which is an amalgam of Macrobius and Gastaldi: the shape is that of Macrobius, with the zones around the equator and windheads; however on North America are 'Terra del Bacalaosa' and 'Nueva Hispania' of Gastaldi. The Straits of Magellan also appear.
[Ref: 17393]
£1,600.00
($2,034 • €1,814 rates)

DOLCE, Lodovico.
[An important Italian translation of Ovid's 'Metamorphoses']Le Trasformationi di M. Lodovico Dolce. In questa quarta impressione da lui in molti luoghi ricorrette.Venice: Gabriel Giolito de Ferrari, 1557. Fourth edition. 4to, C18th half calf with marbled boards and endpapers; pp. (xvi)+309+(i)+colophon; woodcut title and text illustrations throughout, incl. world map on p.3. Unidentified engr. ex-libris label & Italian bookseller's label on front paste-down.The fourth edition of Lodovico Dolce's translation of Ovid's 'Metamorphoses', first published 1553. It is illustrated with numerous woodcuts, including a world map which is an amalgam of Macrobius and Gastaldi: the shape is that of Macrobius, with the zones around the equator and windheads; however on North America are 'Terra del Bacalaosa' and 'Nueva Hispania' of Gastaldi. The Straits of Magellan also appear. Lodovico Dolce (c.1508-1568) was a prolific author: he wrote comedies, tragedies and histories; edited the works of Dante, Boccaccio and Tasso, among others; and translated Greek and Roman classics, including texts by Homer, Euripides Cicero and, of course, Ovid. Publius Ovidius Naso (43 BC-17/18 AD), better known as Ovid, published his Metamorphoses in 8 AD. A narrative poem, it contained over 250 myths relating to the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Cæsar. It was incredibly influential, and was one of the first books printed in English, by William Caxton in 1480.SHIRLEY: 95 for world map.
[Ref: 15464]
£1,800.00
($2,288 • €2,041 rates)

BÜNTING, Heinrich.
[Bünting's famous clover leaf map of the world]Die ganze Welt in ein Kleberblat...Magdeburg, 1581-. Woodcut, printed area 270 x 380mm. A very fine example, a strong printing.Bünting's famous clover leaf map, showing Europe, Asia and Africa as separate leaves connected to Jerusalem at the centre. England and Scandinavia appear as islands at the top of the map; the New World fills the bottom left corner. The map was published in Bünting's 'Itinerarium Sacræ Scripturæ' (Travel through Holy Scripture), a reworking of the bible as a travel guide. Also included were maps of Europe as a Virgin Queen and Asia as Pegasus. This design was of particular relevance to Bünting because a clover leaf features on the arms of his hometown of Hanover.SHIRLEY: World 142.
[Ref: 17369]
£6,500.00
($8,262 • €7,371 rates)

DE BRY, Johann Theodore.
[A world map celebrating the voyage of Willem Schouten][Guilhelmi Schouten in australem oceanum expeditio.]Oppenheim: de Bry, c.1619. Engraved map 170 x 210mm, set in letterpress.A double-hemisphere world map used as a frontispiece to De Bry's 'Pars Undecima Americæ' (Grand Voyages Part XI), which contained the account of the voyage of Willem Shouten (c.1567-1625) in which he was the first to round Cape Horn (1616). The map marks his route but has little other detail. The borders, on the other hand, are finely-engraved, with large portraits of Schouten and Magellan and medallion portraits of Francis Drake, Olivier van Noordt, Thomas Cavendish and Joris van Spilbergen.SHIRLEY: 301.
[Ref: 17013]
£950.00
($1,207 • €1,077 rates)

BLAEU, Willem Janszoon.
[A fabulous example of Blaeu's famous carte à figures world map]Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula.Amsterdam, c.1635, French text edition. Fine original colour. 410 x 540mm.Shirley describes this world map as a 'classic single-sheet world map on Mercator's projection... celebrated as one of the supreme examples of the map maker's art'. It set the standard for vignette borders, with allegorical figures representing the sun, moon & known planets along the top, the Four Elements on the left, the Four Seasons on the right, and depictions of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World along the bottom. There are decorative cartouches for the title, dedication and explanation, two spheres for the north and south poles, compass roses and numerous galleons and sea monsters. Engraved by Josua van den Ende and originally issued separately in 1606 (under Blaeu's original name of Janszoon), this example comes from the fourth state, which dates from its use in Blaeu's atlases from 1630, with the first French edition issued 1635. As the earlier states were separate issues they are increasingly difficult to find.SHIRLEY: World 255.
[Ref: 18589]
£14,000.00
($17,794 • €15,876 rates)

MERIAN, Mattheus.
[Merian's planisphere world map]Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula.Frankfurt, 1638. Coloured. 270 x 360mm.A map of the world on Mercator's Projection, reduced from Blaeu's planisphere by Merian, with polar spheres in the bottom corners. California is still a peninsula at a time when most maps were showing it as an island; 'Magallanica' stretches across the bottom of the map, with the promontory marked 'Beach' in Indonesia; and the mythical island of Frisland sits beneath Iceland.SHIRLEY: 335.
[Ref: 18786]
£1,250.00
($1,589 • €1,418 rates)

VISSCHER, Claes Janszoon.
[A world map with portraits of the Twelve Cæsars]Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula.Amsterdam, 1652. Original colour. 445 x 560mm. Restoration to margin and centre fold.This magnificent planisphere manages to include 30 separate illustrations in its panels. Along the top and bottom are equestrian portraits of the Twelve Cæsars of Tacitus. The four corners feature female allegorical figures of the Continents, with Europe as a shepherdess, Asia seated on a camel, Africa on a crocodile and America on an armadillo! The left border has prospects of Rome, Amsterdam, Jerusalem and Tunis, interspersed with illustrations of European, Asian and African dress. The right border is given over completely to America: the prospects of Mexico City, Havana, Pernambuco and Todos os Santos Bay are separated by vignettes of North American natives, South Americans and the giants of the Magellan Strait. Originally published in 1639, most of the cartography has been copied from Blaeu, although Arctic America has been extended, as has the St Lawrence River. This state has the date 1652, the year of Visscher's death, added.SHIRLEY: 350.
[Ref: 17720]
£20,000.00
($25,420 • €22,680 rates)